Chatham Calhoun Lyon is remembered as a distinguished judge of Bladen County.

     The well-known tavern operator and merchant Robert Lyons (sic.) of Lyon's Landing, located on the western banks of the Cape Fear River, was his grandfather. His parents were Joseph Lyon, born in 1807, and Mary Jane (Lucas) Lyon.

     The immigrant James Lyon, ancestor of the area Lyons, came from England prior to the Revolutionary War. He settled on a large tract of land on the west bank of the river where he built his home, "White Marsh." This land joined "Owen Hill," plantation home of John Owen, governor of North Carolina 1828-1830.

     Mary Jane Lucas Lyon was the daughter of a prominent French Huguenot family who settled in Charleston, S.C.

     The maternal uncle of Chatham Calhoun Lyon and brother of Mary Jane was J.J.D. Lucas, who also owned a river plantation called "White Hall." Here Chatham spent much of his early life; his mother died when he was 5 years old.

     His uncle entered the War Between the States, becoming a colonel over North Carolina troops.

     Chatham's early education was in the home. He attended the Maysville private high school, later reading law in the office of his brother, Robert H. Lyon, who was a practicing lawyer in Elizabethtown.

     In 1872, at the age of 22, he passed the bar exam and with his brother formed the law firm of Lyon and Lyon. It's said he soon earned a reputation "for strict integrity and fair dealing, for diligence in attending to business....His council was sought not only in matters of a legal nature, but businessmen came to him for advice. For more than 30 years he was the mentor in Bladen County in its business and political life."

     In 1906 he won election as a Superior Court judge and was re-elected in 1914. Prior to his election to the bench he was a solicitor for five years.

     A portrait of Judge Lyon was presented to Bladen County in 1935 with Judge Henry A. Grady making the presentation. In making the presentation he said: "He was just what I always thought a judge ought to be. I can pay him no higher tribute than that. ...In his private life he was the the (sic.) most unassuming man I ever knew. He was gentle and kind to everybody. Judge Lyon loved his children; he loved his home and his people. He had a profound patriotism for the state. He was a home lover, a man who was fond of stock; he loved to see things grow in the field. It was a delight to him to walk over his farms and breathe the fresh air of the country. He would come in from such a trip, dressed in his shabbiest garments and, perhaps, soiled with dust, and shake hands with the president of the United States, unashamed."

     A tribute to Lyon is found in the History of North Carolina Biography by Lewis Publishing Co. Vol. IV. It says: "To the work of the Jurist, Judge Lyon has served as a dignified and impartial judge. Such public service on the part of such a man must necessarily mean self-sacrifice. He gave up to a large extent his profitable law practice to attend to his duties on the bench."

     In 1943 a liberty ship, "S.S. Chatham Lyon," was launched at Wilmington honoring him.

     Chatham Calhoun Lyon was married first to Margaret Plummer Richardson, daughter of Col. John A. Richardson, and his wife, Elizabeth O'Neill Purdie Richardson of "Harmony Hall." The children of Chatham and Margaret were Joseph Alden Lyon, John Richardson Lyon, Homer LeGrand Lyon and Terry Alexander Lyon.

     Following the death of his first wife, he married Mary Eliza (Robinson) Stedman, widow of Nathan Stedman of Fayetteville.

     Terry Alexander Lyon settled in Fayetteville and became a member of the law firm of Rose and Lyon. When the United States entered the first world war, he received a commission as a captain and was appointed first assistant judge adjutant with a division of troops from Ohio, accompanying them overseas. He was promoted to major, then lieutenant colonel. After the armistice was signed, he was detailed with the army of occupation as judge adjutant in Germany.

     He returned to the United States but was retained in the adjutant general's department and sent to Camp Bragg, later being assigned to Washington. He was appointed assistant to the solicitor general of the United States but resigned to return to private practice. After practicing law briefly in the capital, he returned to Fayetteville and his former firm.

     Children of Terry and Pauline Lyon are Jean Thomas and Hannah Dawson of Fayetteville.
 

     Mrs Johnson is a local historian. Her stories about interesting people and places of the past appear monthly in the Sunday Observer-Times.